Jeff Simpson grew up in southwest Oklahoma in a home decorated with taxidermic marvels, including a full-size bobcat, two deer heads, five sets of deer antlers, two deer hides, a bass, a trout, turkey beard, and a pheasant. He is the author of Vertical Hold (Steel Toe Books, 2011), which was a finalist for The National Poetry Series. His poems have recently appeared in Prairie Schooner, Cimarron Review, Harpur Palate and others. He lives in Brooklyn lives and teaches in NY and is the founder/editor-in-chief of The Fiddleback, an online arts & literature magazine.